How rare is my £2 and how much is it worth?

Since the first very bi-metallic £2 coins were released back in 1998, there have been over 40 UK £2 coins in circulation! Many of these coins commemorate key moments in Britain’s history and heritage.

But with so many in circulation, how can you tell which are the ones to look for?

Luckily for you, we’ve done the leg work and compiled a number of resources to help you determine how rare your £2 coin is and how much it might be worth.

Mintages

A key tool for working out how rare your coin might be is our £2 mintage chart. Generally speaking, the lower the mintage, the rarer the coin and the harder it will be to find in circulation.

Here are the most up to date mintage charts for UK £2 coins in circulation, with the UK’s rarest circulation £2, the 2002 Commonwealth Games Northern Ireland sat in top spot with the lowest mintage figures of just 485,500.

We haven’t been able to include the 2017 Jane Austen £2 or the WW1 Aviation £2 coins in our charts yet as the mintage figures are yet to be released, however you can view our previous £2 mintage figures here. There hasn’t been any feedback from Change Checkers finding these coins in circulation but we’re hoping they’ll turn up soon and do let us know if you find any in your change!

eBay Tracker

To help you determine the value of your coin, we’ve created our eBay Tracker, which takes the last 9 sold prices achieved on eBay and gives you the median price achieved (rounded to the nearest 50p). By taking the median, rather than an average, we avoid skewing created by one or two excessive prices achieved.

Here’s the top 5 highest selling £2 coins from our eBay Tracker, with the Commonwealth Games Northern Ireland sitting on top spot as the highest selling £2, followed by the Commonwealth Games England and Wales respectively. In 4th place is the 2017 Jane Austen £2. Mintage figures for this coin have not yet been released and collectors don’t seem to have found the coin in their change, which seems to have made the coin very popular to buy on eBay, but will you wait to find this coin when it enters circulation?

Scarcity Index

To give you a complete picture of how your coin compares to other £2 coins in circulation, we have combined the mintage information with two other key pieces of information to provide the Change Checker Scarcity Index:

How many of each design are listed as “collected” by Change Checkers, indicating the relative ease of finding a particular coin.

The number of times a design has been requested as a swap over the previous 3 months, showing the current level of collector demand.

Here’s our most recent Scarcity Index for £2 coins, with yet again the Commonwealth Games Northern Ireland coming in on top as the most scarce £2. Where does your £2 rank on the Scarcity Index?

Hopefully these tools will enable you to get a more realistic picture of how rare your £2 is and how much it might be worth. Of course, these figures will change in time as the latest £2 coins are released into circulation, so stay up to date with all our latest coin news and information.

Have you found any rare coins in your change recently? Let us know in the comments below.

If you’re interested in coin collecting, our Change Checker web app is completely free to use and allows users to:

– Find and identify the coins in their pocket
– Collect and track the coins they have
– Swap their spare coins with other Change Checkers

I have a World War Two pound coin a two pound coin with Britannia , one with An act for the Abolition of the slave act. And two fifty pence pieces one with V c meddles and one with Mr Jeremy Fisher on. Area y of them collectible and if so what is there value.

Carrieon September 9, 2018 at 12:06 pm

Hi, we have a 1986 commonwealth games £2 commemorative coin (in mount) are these worth anything?

Rachel Hooperon September 10, 2018 at 10:53 am

Hi Carrie, as these coins are no longer in circulation and were mainly struck for collectors they will be sought-after. It would depend very much on the condition of your coin as to how much a buyer is willing to pay, but they typically sell for more than face value. Your best bet would be to check the recently sold listings on ebay to see how much they are currently selling for. Best of luck!

Dave Planton September 8, 2018 at 12:46 am

Hi Rachel, no mention of the 2015 or 2016 Britannia £2.00 coin. I believe the earlier one is rarer with only around 650k produced. is that right?

Rowena Coxon September 10, 2018 at 5:42 pm

Hi Dave,
Yes you are right, the 2015 Britannia £2 coin had a mintage of just 650,000 but the 2016 mintage was 2,925,000, making the 2015 £2 a lot more sought after.
Thanks, Rowena

Miss gibbson September 7, 2018 at 2:29 pm

I had a Charles dickens £2 in my change today it seems to be missing half the dots round the queens head, the writing ( something will turn up) is upside down and the word (will) is missed printed. Would it be worth more money?

Rowena Coxon September 10, 2018 at 4:55 pm

Hi Anna,
Thanks for your message.
Unfortunately I wouldn’t expect any £2 coins with the fading dots around the silver centre of the coin to have added value, this is caused simply by a worn out die due to mass production, and is really common.
Upside down lettering is very common too. It happens because during the minting process the edge of a coin is struck first, and then the obverse and reverse are struck together. This is why there can sometimes be a variation among coins between the expected orientation of the edge inscription.
The ‘miss spelled’ WILL on the edge inscription of many Charles Dickens £2 coins is also caused by a worn out die, where the end of the L has been worn to look like an I.
Here is a blog explaining some of the minting process and simple variations – https://blog.changechecker.org/2016/06/24/mis-strikes-and-myths/
Recently there have been a lot of stories of people listing coins like this on ebay hoping for extortionate amounts, but coins like this wouldn’t really have any added value. It’s errors caused by human error, such as a wrong date, that are a lot more sought after and would likely have added value.
I hope this information helps. Thanks, Rowena

Pamelaon September 7, 2018 at 1:02 pm

Thank you Rachel
A bit of a mind field but will keep me busy!

Sarah Millinon September 7, 2018 at 9:06 am

Hi I have 4 of the £2 coins abolish the slave trade and 2 of them the writing is upside down compared to the other 2? And I was just wondering what this means?

Rachel Hooperon September 7, 2018 at 9:45 am

Hi Sarah! This case is actually quite common and is due to the way a coin is struck. During the minting process the side of a coin is struck first, and then the obverse and reverse are struck together. This is why there can sometimes be a variation among coins between the expected orientation of the edge inscription. Here is a blog explaining some of the minting process and simple variations – https://blog.changechecker.org/2016/06/24/mis-strikes-and-myths/ . Your case is similar to the last one with the upside down lettering.

Nicola Burchon September 7, 2018 at 3:00 am

Hi Rachel I have found a technology £2 coin that seems to be put together wrong as the queens head is on the same side as the words ‘two pounds’ where it should be on the other side. Is it rare?

Rowena Coxon September 7, 2018 at 1:58 pm

Hi Nicola,
Your coin sounds like an interesting find. I think that it would be virtually impossible for this error to have been caused during the striking process of the coin because the whole of each side of the coin is struck at the same time. So the die would need to be completely wrong which is very unlikely, especially as this variation hasn’t been seen before. It is more likely that the coin is a fake or has been tampered with. If you would like to be sure I would suggest sending in the coin to The Royal Mint who offer a verification service. This service costs £20; they will send the coin back to you with confirmation of their findings, which can take a few weeks depending on demand for the service. Here is the address:
Dr Kevin Clancy
Director of the Museum
The Royal Mint Museum
Llantrisant
Pontyclun
CF72 8YT
I hope this information helps.
Thanks, Rowena

Nicola Burchon September 7, 2018 at 7:55 pm

Hi Rowena

Thanks for the quick reply.
I may just do that as I would like to find out how it got like this.
Kind regards
Nicky Burch

Pamela Marcinkowskaon September 6, 2018 at 7:15 pm

Where can I sell my £2 coins in particular 60 th anniversary of 1 st world war? Got many others including Darwin and Robert Burns

Hi Clive, the st Paul’s Cathedral £2 has the highest mintage figure for commemorative £2 coins and therefore is considered common. If you check the recent sold prices on ebay, you will see that it rarely sells above face value. Thanks, Rachel

Tom Woodcockon September 6, 2018 at 8:40 am

Hi All. I believe I have the Charles Dickens £2 cicoin on with the 3 faults.
Would you be interested??

Rachel Hooperon September 6, 2018 at 9:08 am

Hi Tom, sounds very interesting. You’re welcome to send in a picture and we’ll take a look for you. Unfortunately we don’t offer a buying service but always love to see the unusual coins collectors manage to find.